Posted on 11/25/2022 8:46:18 PM PST by NeverCheney
Former Trump Justice Department head William Barr, in the course of reiterating his strong preference that his party nominate a less deranged presidential candidate next time, expressed a fear that has been in wide circulation: If defeated in the primary, Donald Trump “will burn the whole house down by leading ‘his people’ out of the GOP.”
One version of this is that Trump will either form a third party or simply refuse to endorse another Republican, thereby dooming his party’s chances. Those of us considering the question from a less friendly standpoint than Barr — I consider the Republican Party an unsalvageable fanatical proto-authoritarian formation — would very much like it to be true. Indeed, I have seen commentators treat it as something like a certainty that would doom a Ron DeSantis or any other non-Trump alternative.
But I think this idea misunderstands both Trump and the incentive structure of the Republican Party.
It is true that a world in which Trump has lost a primary to DeSantis is a world in which Trump feels very angry with DeSantis. But DeSantis is not the only person Trump feels angry with. Trump has spent the past several years simmering with anger at Joe Biden. And while a contested primary would make Trump resent DeSantis more than he does now, it’s hardly certain that it would make him hate DeSantis more than he hates Biden.
More important, it would be uncharacteristic for Trump to allow his grudges to get in the way of his clear self-interest. Trump does lash out wildly at anybody who disrespects him, but he also turns on a dime and makes friends with his former enemies. You can see this pattern in the way he lashed out at the likes of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio before reconciling
(Excerpt) Read more at nymag.com ...
If DeSantis hasn’t seen to it that Florida is no longer using RCV-enabled voting machines, mail-in voting, and early voting, I’m betting Trump won’t support DeSantis for dog catcher.
Neither would I.
Trump is out and running for President right now. DeSantis has taken no action whatsoever to run in 2024. Until he forms a exploratory committee and takes action, he is not running for President.
The news media is playing "lets you and him fight" between Trump and DeSantis when neither one is playing the game.
Fatso is an idiot
Put down the fork, you've had too much pie.
conservatives in those states should consider moving out before
the socialist overlords fundamentally transform these former
swing states into a clone of the Peoples Republic of New York
‘’’’’’’’’’’’
So are you saying they should keep running each time when their
state changes political parties? Which country are you saying
they should move to when the USA keeps changing. It has been
changing every since Columbus sailed in 1492. And most of these
changes have been brought on by the inhabitants at that time.
Why speculate on something that is totally impossible???
Trump should run as a Democrat.
Most of the time, I don't vote FOR people. I vote AGAINST their opponent.
For example, the last McConnell ran I voted AGAINST his far-left opponent, Amy McGrath, who described herself as "the most liberal person in Kentucky".
Pure propaganda on Free Republic. At least it has a hurl alert.
I'm not voting for cheney for pence. TS.
Trump has ZERO path to the White House.
He will lose every state he lost in 2020.
If Trump had ANY interest in saving the Republic, he'd drop this hopeless quixotic adventure and endorse candidates who actually have a shot at winning.
But he won't. And he'll win the GOP nomination.
And he will be soundly beaten yet again.
That's where they WANT Trump to be the GOP nominee!
And don’t complain if you get banned from here for blatant and constant trolling.
I'm not trolling. I'm supporting the most conservative candidate who I believe actually has a shot at winning the White House.
I supported Trump with my mouth and my money in 2016 and 2020 but I do not believe he can win in 2024.
Winning the White House is of critical importance to the future of this country and Donald Trump has now demonstrated, three elections in a row, that he cannot win and that 2016 was a political anomaly that is not going to repeat itself in 2024.
Correct. Plus there's a chance that Trump is not going to win the Republican nomination. So he may run 3rd party and then spoil the election to Biden.
Much like Perot did back in '92 and gave the election to Clinton.
Maybe. If the Republicans are going to nominate someone else, let's say Youngkin or Rubio. Then Trump decides to run 3rd party. He will get 15%-20% of the vote in the General Election.
Biden gets reelected easily. So DeSantis may want to avoid that clash and wait until 2028 when the Republican Party can finally heal from Trump's self-destruction.
There's still time for Trump to realize. "Maybe I should not do this" and hopefully he will. Biden needs Trump to get reelected.
Poppycock!
He wasn’t soundly beaten.
The election was stolen.
Did you miss that part dummy?
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